The Pegasus pipeline

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Completed in 1948 to deliver light, conventional crude oil from Nederland, Texas, to the Patoka Oil Terminal Hub in Patoka, Ill., ExxonMobil's Pegasus Pipeline is an 858-mile, 20-inch steel pipeline with a capacity of up to 95,000 barrels per day. A project to reverse the flow of the pipeline — the first such reversal of an existing petroleum pipeline — was completed in 2006. Since then, the Pegasus Pipeline has been used exclusively to deliver heavier Canadian petroleum products to Gulf Coast refineries.

Stretching diagonally across Arkansas from northeast to southwest, the Pegasus Pipeline crosses several major rivers in the state, including the Spring, Strawberry, White, Little Red, Arkansas, Caddo and Saline Rivers. When Lake Maumelle was built in 1957-58, the pipeline was diverted around the lake so it would not lie directly beneath the reservoir, but the Pegasus still runs through 13 miles of the Lake Maumelle watershed, including one section buried fewer than 600 feet from the water. Dr. Carl Stapleton, director of the Environmental Health Sciences program in the Biology Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the shoreline of Lake Maumelle is, on average, much steeper than the shoreline of Lake Conway, meaning that if a pipeline break or rupture occurred in the Maumelle watershed, the spill would probably find its way to the water very quickly. Lake Maumelle supplies around 60 percent of the water used by residents of Central Arkansas.

Asked whether the company would consider moving the pipeline out of the Lake Maumelle watershed given the damage caused by the spill in Mayflower and the potential for fouling a large portion of Central Arkansas's water supply, Exxon spokesman Charles Engelmann said, "If there is absolutely any indication that there is a concern for that segment of the pipeline, then we'll take whatever measures it takes to keep it safe. At this stage, there's no indication that segment is a concern."

Exxon has not yet determined why the Pegasus pipeline burst in Mayflower.

According to U.S. Department of Transportation data, there are 1,805 miles of hazardous liquid pipeline in Arkansas. That doesn't include natural gas transmission and distribution lines. DOT information says that between 2003 and 2012, there were 28 incidents involving hazardous liquid pipelines in the state, including a 2009 accident on the TE Products Pipeline in Searcy that resulted in three fatalities. The total amount of hazardous liquids lost in Arkansas between 2003 and 2012 was estimated by the DOT at 6,107 barrels. Total property damage from those incidents was estimated at $5.05 million dollars.

Speaking of ExxonMobil, Pegasus Pipeline

A federal regulatory agency has issued a final order in its review of the break of Exxon Mobil's Pegasus pipeline that spewed 5,000 barrels of heavy crude on a Mayflower subdivision and into nearby wetlands in March 2013. /more/

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker today signed off on a settlement agreement between ExxonMobil and several state and federal entities concerning the 2013 rupture of the Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower. The news is a setback for Central Arkansas Water, which has been fighting make the terms of the consent decree tougher. /more/

Central Arkansas Water has written federal Judge Kristine Baker to formally object to a consent decree between Exxon Mobil and the federal government on the Pegasus pipeline break that spewed heavy Canadian crude on a Mayflower subdivision and leaked into nearby wetlands. /more/

Central Arkansas Water has objected sharply to a proposed consent decree to settle a state and federal lawsuit over the rupture of the Exxon Mobil Pegasus pipeline that inundanted a Mayflower neighborhood with heavy crude oil. /more/

Despite the settlement today, litigation related to the 2013 Mayflower oil spill is nowhere near its conclusion. ExxonMobil faces additional legal action from state and federal public agencies charged with protecting natural resources in Arkansas under what's called a Natural Resources Damages claim. /more/

A consent decree will be filed this morning in federal court in which ExxonMobil agrees to pay civil penalties, fund an environmental project and take other corrective steps in response to alleged violations of environmental laws in the 2013 rupture of the Pegasus pipeline that produced a damaging spill in Mayflower. /more/

Plaintiffs in Faulkner County lawsuits that are among many filed over the 2013 ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline break that gushed heavy crude in Mayflower are making progress toward an October trial of several consolidated cases. /more/

A federal judge has refused an ExxonMobil request to dismiss a federal-state lawsuit over the crude oil pipeline spill in Mayflower a year ago. /more/

ExxonMobil, whose pipeline showed heavy crude on Mayflower and has more recently been criticized by Gov. Mike Beebe for the nature of its response to another disaster in the area, the recent tornadoes, is going to showcase its contribution to disaster relief at a press event today. /more/

By putting the focus on atypical pipe properties and away from a well-known manufacturing defect of the type of pipe used in the northern section that includes Arkansas, it would seem that Exxon is casting the rupture as caused by a rare flaw. /more/

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